£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

Silver_Queen

I'm convinced. Personal stylist/lifestyle coach/Fashion writer/blogger.

Silver_Queen

P.S. Re: make up and skincare, have you looked into the possibility of pro discount?

Treadingonplaymobil

Silver_Queen wrote: »

I'm convinced. Personal stylist/lifestyle coach/Fashion writer/blogger.

That sounds super glam, let's go with that. :rotfl:

Treadingonplaymobil

Silver_Queen wrote: »

P.S. Re: make up and skincare, have you looked into the possibility of pro discount?

I don't think it would be relevant for my line of work, but i haven't thought about it before. It might be something that becomes an option as my traffic to my own website grows (rather than my work through other companies). Thanks for the idea.

Goingroundincircles

Just read your post from this morning. As usual I have nothing helpful or inspiring to say other than I could have written it myself. Particularly these points.

I'm sure I'll feel simply super when it's all gone, but at the moment I just feel worn down, bored with it and tired of not being able to live the life I want. Yes, I know it's all 100% self inflicted, but right now I don't care.

As I've said before, I don't feel I've had some epiphany lightbulb moment. My debt doesn't horrify me in the least. I want it gone because I want to free up £400 a month, not because I actually care about the fact of being in debt. I can't really get any more worked up about it than I do about the mortgage.

The highlighted bit is the only thing that keeps me from adding to the debt at the moment. We're currently paying around £1900 a month towards debt. That's more than I take home. On one hand I want the debt gone as quickly as possible but on the other I don't want to live a miserable life and miss out on things in the whilst we're paying it off. I'm genuinely waiting for a lottery win (we don't play as we can't afford it).

In my mind as long as the debt is going down each month, even if only by a little, then that's a step in the right direction. No matter if we've had to muddle through the budget or not.

You know what decisions are right for you.

ellen_vannin

I agree totally with your priorities on cheap holidays for the kids and the extension. For the price you are paying for the camping trips I would not consider doing without them.

Some of the other things like cups of hot choc and tea when out , would not be missed by the kids.( I know I have already nagged you about this earlier in the week!)

Why not start an extra Xmas fund now - there are good threads on here for boosting income. Maybe in the school hols you could look at surveys,
e-baying , car boot sales, entering competitions etc as other ways to fund Xmas extras. All things that don't need childcare.

Meanwhile just keep going - we all have days when we get a little downhearted.

Sayschezza

Would you feel better if you just left the cc bill to run its course. If you just continue to pay a set amount on a dd it will accelerate down naturally as the debt decreases. Then all the money you use to overpay it now could be saved for the extension which may make you feel better as it's a positive not a negative. As the debt is going to increase when the extension is built anyway it makes no difference to the final outcome.

mfmaybe

Sayschezza wrote: »

Would you feel better if you just left the cc bill to run its course. If you just continue to pay a set amount on a dd it will accelerate down naturally as the debt decreases. Then all the money you use to overpay it now could be saved for the extension which may make you feel better as it's a positive not a negative. As the debt is going to increase when the extension is built anyway it makes no difference to the final outcome.

Mathematically that seems true, but the reality is that the higher the unsecured debt, the harder it will be to borrow any more for the extension, because the minimum payments will be higher.

TOPM, ok if you don't have a wardrobe full of clothes you can flog fair enough. But do please think about what you could possibly sell to fund christmas. Don't just accept in June that it has to go on a credit card. What about those clothes you inherit for your DC3? Toys they've grown out of?

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 69: Day 5

Thank you all so much for all your kind words yesterday. It's days like that when having a diary really makes the difference between giving up and sticking one's head back in the sand and brushing oneself off and carrying on. I'm pleased to report I'm going for the latter option . I'm feeling a million times better just for getting it out there and acknowledging that it's hard work and not always sunshine and rainbows.

I do hear you all on the Christmas thing, and I'm certainly not giving up yet (although you know that Christmas and birthdays are not a compromise area in the TOPM household. Indeed, is anything a compromise area?!). I'm hoping I can add back into all the pots I've raided over the coming months, although they won't be as healthy as I'd hoped.

I have toyed repeatedly with stopping overpaying the debt, but I think that dividing extra income as I do is a good compromise in reality, even if it's not hugely emotionally satisfying, because no one pot builds up super quickly. I have added refilling the Christmas pot into my income division, which now looks like this:
5% biz account savings pots
25% future months in biz account
10% debt overpayments
25% extension
5% house stuff
5% food/household supplies (5% towards wedding cake until at £100)
10% christmas
5% annual insurances
5% DC1 tutor
5% emergency fund
One thing I have noticed has been successful has been adding some of the income division to future months, as I can't see it as available in YNAB. Obviously if I go hunting forward it's there, but doesn't show as a current figure - for instance, DC1's tutor money is being added from September onwards, as I don't need it until then, and has remained intact. I think I'm going to start adding more of the savings to future months so I don't see it in the day to day running of YNAB. It might help on a subconscious level with unnecessary overspending, even though I'll need to go forward and raid those pots if something major like the boiler breaking happens (forgot to add that to yesterday's list from hell - that was another £130!). Honestly, my use of YNAB is mostly about finding ways to trick myself into believing I have no money to spend :rotfl: .

I should note that my business account is looking fairly healthy. I have managed to completely disassociate the two budgets in my mind (as I should) and resist the urge to raid my business account when the going gets tough - learnt that lesson last year when I spent my buffer and ended up using CCs in August-October! I have three full months expenses/salary buffer and have 20% of a fourth month (it's slowly building with the income division above). If and when I get to four months buffer I will reduce that 25% division down to 10%, as I think four months is a good balance between risk and reality, given the amount of debt we are in - that will be £1,600 sitting in the bank doing not a lot (well, sitting in premium bonds actually, as it's instantly accessible), and I think that's enough until the debt is lower. I also have savings pots sloooowwwly growing from that 5% that goes into them, for things like training, new computer etc. They're still tiny (varying from £50-150 depending on what they are for), but growing by pennies at a time and will grow at the right rate for when they might be needed as long as I can leave them alone.

Had another client enquiry yesterday - every one feels like a huge bonus as we get into the summer months as there are so few of them. Hopefully it will turn into a booking in the next couple of days.

I also cleaned the sitting room, and gosh it makes a difference to my mood when the house is pristine, rather than just bare-minimum-done. I never think of myself as a tidy person, but it makes so much difference to my whole mindset when the house looks nice. It also makes me less frustrated about it not being 'perfect' in terms of decor and layout, because everything looks nicer when it's clean and tidy.

My daily earning goal has inched up again - if I don't get paid for that client enquiry today it will slip back over the £26 barrier again. I was going to sell the DCs' brio and wooden marble run as neither get played with and have been boxed up for a few weeks, but both of them have been asked for this week and played with again, so I feel a bit bad snatching them away to sell! DH is up for selling our bike trailer though, he's going to clean it this weekend. It's a Burley Cub, which was around £500 new. They seem to vary wildly in sold price on eBay, so I think we'll try a buy it now at the higher end for a while before trying an auction.

To do yesterday
1. Make dinner early in the day - swimming lessons tonight so dinner is super early.
2. Try to get some clarity from the council on whether we need a bat and bird/wildlife survey done for planning permission. Apparently we do, which just seems mad in a terraced bungalow with no loft space and a patio where we are building our extension - nowhere for any wildlife to live! Apparently the council aren't speaking to me. Need to chase today.
3. Spend some time on my smaller business - this has been totally neglected of late, and I'm hoping my new working strategy of 'one thing per day' will boost this business - it used to bring in an extra few hundred a month and is currently bringing in more like £50.
4. Plan end of year gifts for teachers. It's been a really challenging year at the DCs' school and I think they all deserve something nice, but I need to stick to a small budget. Going to see if I can find some cheap candle containers online, as homemade candles would be a good budget option, and the DCs can decorate the jars/containers.
5. Clean the sitting room. I'm buoyed by the success of my bathroom cleaning and have ambitions of a clean sitting room too!

To do today
1. Another top up food shop - I'm working through the cupboards and freezer so topping up on a daily basis at the moment, just a few quid at a time. Going to carry on until the cupboards are significantly more bare. It's quite good for showing me where we spend the most money in our food shop, as some days it's £2, some days it's £10.
2. Bake biscuits for clients tomorrow. Don't let DH bake all the freezer cookie mix this time.
3. Clean the hallway and porch. Our hallways is relatively big compared to the size of our house and can become a total dumping ground.
4. Spend an hour tidying up the back garden.
5. Clear work emails (am not officially working today, but have a couple which will be good to get off my mind).
6. Tidy and clean for clients tomorrow - fortunately not a lot to do after my cleaning-fest this week.
7. Chase council some more re wildlife survey.
8. DH - phone Sainsbury's to reduce DD.
9. DH - phone Virgin to enquire about transferring some balance to the 0% (we are paying interest on a small portion of the barclaycard as of this month, only around £30, but £30 interest I'd rather not be paying!). I think there is some more we could add to the Virgin card at 0%, depending on transfer fee. At least Barclaycard are taking payments made from the interest bearing part of the balance rather than the 0% bit.
10. DH - mow lawn (front and back).

Mini goals:
- £7.94/30 June rounding down pot.
- £2,780.95/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £25.91 daily earning goal.

mfmaybe

Really glad to hear you sound more chipper and determined.

Re the trailer, you could try facebook marketplace. Much smaller audience than fleabay, but no fees and everyone looks locally so no issues with postage.